The Great Escape

And this time it wasn't the animals - for a change!

My weekly pattern doesn't alter very often, but when it does sometimes it's for the best. I'm usually pottering about in the garden or kitchen, or online and of course there's the animals to take care of too. Apart from the odd bill paying and shopping trip I rarely go out of the village and don't need to.

Yesterday though, we were invited to a birthday party and although hubby thought he wouldn't make it due to other committments he did manage to come along later in the day which was lovely. Friend's picked me up at lunchtime and off we headed through beautiful countryside to the party. The drive was nice and pretty straightforward with plenty of friendly chatter. When we arrived at our destination there was a lovely welcome and new people to meet. Most of us had chatted before on the internet at some point but just never met so it was great to meet new friends.

Welcomes and introductions over and we all settled down around a large table to chat and have a few drinks (soft drinks and coffee for me and a few others, beer for the birthday boy and a couple of the men folk). Conversations were wide ranging and about many different subjects. The thing we all have in common is we are expats in Bulgaria and belong to a facebook group set up for expats and friends. We all were served a lovely meal and dessert too mmmm. it was a fantastic day and we really enjoyed it. A big thank you to our wonderful hosts and new friends for making it a great day :)

I'd planned a rather quiet day today, but fate has made it otherwise and the 120 bales of straw I ordered and paid for on Friday have been delivered, so now need moved and stacked in the barn. But it's still too hot so I'll leave it another hour or so and make a start, after I've had a quick dip in the pool.  August is the month when our above ground pool normally comes into it's own and gets regular use. It's great to jump in and cool off to escape the heat. Hubby keeps it very clean and makes sure the chlorine levels are correct etc. So it's ciao for now and I'll be back with another blog post soon.

Perfect Timing........Hmmm

As usual with anything in Bulgaria timing is crucial. There's a right time to sow seeds, a right time to go to the village cafe for a coffee, a right time to put animals out or bring them in etc.

So why is it that whenever we get a delivery of anything it always seems to be at the wrong time?

We had some friends here last week that have also bought a house in the village. Because they're not living here yet I ordered them some winter wood about 3 weeks ago and hoped it would arrive while they were here so there were more hands available to shift the wood. That was the theory anyway!

They set off back home last friday with no signs of their wood arriving. Of course it's arrived today when a) David's out working, b) I'm stuck home with 2 poorly children and c) there's not a hope that I can move the wood on my own.

The same happened with the straw we ordered earlier in the year, weeks go by, no-one mentions it and then all of a sudden a tractor and trailer turns up and dumps 250 bales in your garden! I wonder how the Bulgarians cope with this? Do you have to stay home for 3 weeks just in case they decide to deliver your order? Maybe I'm being a little uptight about it......at least they do deliver, because I can't imagine how else we'd manage to get 250 bales here or 10 cubic meters of wood. Also have you ever actually seen how much wood there is in 10 cubic meters?

I'd imagined a decent sized pile but nothing prepared me for the reality of how much there really is.......Think I'll have to take the camera outside and photograph it just for future reference! And once it's all chopped and split the pile will be of monstrous proportions! Back later with a piccie, time for coffee now before I do anything else.